Statewide snow surveyors reported on May 2 that water content in California’s snowpack is at only 17 percent of normal of the state average for the date.

After a record dry January and February in much of the state, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is currently projecting that it will only deliver 35 percent of requested water amounts from the State Water Project (SWP) which delivers most of the irrigation water used by Central Valley farmers.

That number reflects not only snowpack restrictions but also incorporates fish conservation restrictions on water use to protect Delta smelt and salmon.

While the state’s snowpack got off to a good start in November and December, precipitation dropped off the charts since January.

The November and December storms built California’s statewide average snowpack water content to 134 percent of normal by Jan. 2, when the year’s first survey was performed.

The year’s second snow survey on Jan. 29 found the snowpack water content at 93 percent of normal for the date. By Feb. 28, the snowpack water content had dropped to 66 percent of average. On March 28, about the time California’s snowpack is normally at its peak, its water content had dropped to 52 percent of normal.

Snow normally provides about a third of the water for California’s homes and farms as it melts into streams, reservoirs and aquifers, according to DWR.

DWR and cooperating agencies across the state conduct manual snow surveys around the first of the month from January through May. The manual measurements supplement and check the accuracy of the real-time electronic readings from remote sensors throughout the state.

Despite the dwindling snowpack, DWR says most key storage reservoirs are near normal levels for the date thanks to November and December storms.

The last time 100 percent of allocated SWP water was delivered was in 2006. DWR says a 100 percent delivery is difficult to achieve even in wet years because of pumping restrictions to protect endangered Delta fish species.

Electronic snowpack readings may be found at: cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQ.